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Found VHS Tapes Unveil Strange And Awkward Truths

The founders of the Found Footage Festival, Joe Pickett (left) and Nick Prueher (right).
Courtesy of Nick Prueher
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Joe Pickett (left) and Nick Prueher (right
The founders of the Found Footage Festival, Joe Pickett (left) and Nick Prueher (right).

Friends Nick Prueher and Joe Pickett’s fascination with VHS tapes started in elementary school. The two would scour garage sales and thrift stores for odd and entertaining videos and then head home to host viewing parties for their friends. 

Host Frank Stasio speaks with Found Footage Festival co-founder Nick Prueher.

Despite the evolution of digital media, their fascination with the old-school medium never waned. In 2004 they started a traveling film festival to show off the wide cross section of humanity captured on these found tapes. Found Footage Festival co-founder Nick Prueher speaks with host Frank Stasio about some of the societal trends he and Pickett have pieced together by collecting and watching endless tapes, like the rise of satanism concerns in the 80s and 90s.

The Found Footage Festival comes to Raleigh’s Kings on Thursday, Dec. 14 at 8:30 p.m.

Copyright 2017 North Carolina Public Radio

Laura Pellicer is a producer with The State of Things (hyperlink), a show that explores North Carolina through conversation. Laura was born and raised in Montreal, Quebec, a city she considers arrestingly beautiful, if not a little dysfunctional. She worked as a researcher for CBC Montreal and also contributed to their programming as an investigative journalist, social media reporter, and special projects planner. Her work has been nominated for two Canadian RTDNA Awards. Laura loves looking into how cities work, pursuing stories about indigenous rights, and finding fresh voices to share with listeners. Laura is enamored with her new home in North Carolina—notably the lush forests, and the waves where she plans on moonlighting as a mediocre surfer.
Longtime NPR correspondent Frank Stasio was named permanent host of The State of Things in June 2006. A native of Buffalo, Frank has been in radio since the age of 19. He began his public radio career at WOI in Ames, Iowa, where he was a magazine show anchor and the station's News Director.